Labelled a “surging dark horse” candidate in France’s presidential election, communist Jean-Luc Mélenchon has a new proposal that he hopes will maintain his momentum: a 100% tax on the rich. Mélenchon is running as the candidate of the “Unbowed France political movement, in an alliance with the French Communist Party.”

Mélenchon is a colorful character whose repertoire includes showing up at rallies via hologram, enabling him to “appear” at seven rallies at once.

In the latest plot twist in France’s highly contentious presidential election, Mélenchon — an outspoken 65-year-old leftist who often appears on the campaign trail via hologram and who has pitched his proposal to nationalize France’s biggest banks and renegotiate its relationship with the European Union via free Internet games and YouTube videos — is now soaring in the polls.

. . . . He has more YouTube followers than all of his principal opponents combined, and he released an online video game titled “Fiscal Kombat,” in which players attack bankers and, at a higher level, Christine Lagarde, the French director of the International Monetary Fund, in the name of redistributing wealth to the masses. The game is a remake of “Mortal Kombat,” a 1990s video game familiar to many of his supporters.

If these proposals weren’t radical enough, Mélenchon has upped the ante and is proposing a scheme to cap the income level in France at €400,000.

Comments

It’s a crazy proposal and will only result in more wealthy French citizens jetting off for more tax-friendly places. That said, the headline is a bit misleading because it comes across as a 100% tax on all income, not just the income above 400,000 Euros.

One benefit of having France to observe is that it shows the left and us too, that when you take socialists ideas to their extreme you have a living breathing disaster. The leaders in France have used higher taxes and strict non-work rules to keep everyone happy and it hasn’t worked. The rich will leave as they do here in the US when states start overtaxing them. AS many bad things as capitalism has, it still beats all of the other systems hands down.

The bank’s product is money. It may surprise you, but some people would not classify it as theft, but rather as marketing. A service to the bank. Similar to people who steal software, music, etc. then redistribute them. The only difference is that bank robbery, car theft, and home invasions are high profile acts that overtly increase risk to the would-be marketeers… unless the majority, real or manufactured, vote for it.

Do you know who else made essentially the same proposal, about 220 years ago? Thomas Paine. His proposed 100% tax bracket would have cut in at an income of £20,000 per annum. Come to think of it, he was a French legislator too; maybe it’s in the water.

For example, tax wealth. Even if it’s not presently producing income.
Tax unrealized capital gains. Tax citizens for being smarter than average, or better looking than average, or just more talented in any way that’s not shared by all.

Liberté, égalité, fraternité ==> égalité, égalité toujours!

(and try not to think too much about how well radical idealism work out the last time, 1789-1799)